The present invention relates generally to handling data streams in networked systems, and more specifically to parsing out those parts of a data stream usable by a client device for processing by the client device.
A broad range of electronic devices have been developed, and continue to be developed, that provide a broad range of communication capabilities. Mobile phone designs provide Internet access functions, personal digital assistant (PDA) devices have radio connectivity to the Internet and are able to access e-mail and Internet web pages, and television set-top boxes similarly provide Internet access. This broad range of devices is comprised of devices of varying processing power and user interface capabilities, from a fully-equipped multimedia Personal Computer (PC) to a mobile phone or PDA that provides only a single-color, low-resolution display with no sound capability. Because all these devices are currently being employed to access Internet data, it is desirable to ensure that data provided on the Internet may be delivered in a manner appropriate to the broad range of client devices.
For example, mobile phone and PDA access is, in some current products, limited to only accessing either the text portion of a web page, or specially-designed web pages that are specifically tailored to be displayed on the intended client device. Such a method is practical for the client, but it is inefficient and often impractical to create alternate web sites for each of a large variety of client types that may be employed to access the web content.
Also, the use of text-only display of sites that are typically provided as graphic-intensive web pages often hinders navigation of the web site, which relies upon a user being able to view and click on a large, complex graphic to select web pages or other content for viewing. Although most Internet clients are capable of searching for and downloading any type of content, many clients are unable to display many types of content in a meaningful way.
What is desired is a method and apparatus that enables clients that are unable to download and process various types of content to download and process only those portions of the content that the client is capable of presenting in a meaningful way, and to store or retrieve content the client cannot display for viewing on another client with the capability to view the stored data.
The present invention provides, in various embodiments, a method and apparatus that enables clients to receive and process a filtered or parsed portion of provided content upon determination that such content is displayable on the client device through the use of a client configuration. The clients that are unable to process and present various types of content, or that are configured by a user preference not to present various types of content, will only display those filtered or parsed portions of the content that the client is capable of presenting in a meaningful way. Content that the client cannot, or preferably will not, display can be stored for later retrieval, discarded, or ignored. The various embodiments of the present invention therefore provide enhanced capability for a client to receive at least a portion of a collection of data it cannot, in its entirety, present in a meaningful way, and to store that portion of the content for later use.
For example, a client device may be capable of displaying graphics, but because displaying such graphics would slow down the processing and presentation of the content to an unacceptable rate, a user may select a configuration that classifies graphical content as data that cannot be meaningfully presented by the client device, and thus, even though the capability exists, the device will parse out the graphical content during reception of the content. However, since this data is being stored, if the user later decides to view such accompanying graphics, the content can be retrieved by the user.